N.H. football realignment should be one and done

Not that anybody asked, but here's my take on the NHIAA's pilot realignment plan for high school football in 2013:

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By Mike Zhe

seacoastonline.com

By Mike Zhe

Posted Aug. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By Mike Zhe

Posted Aug. 17, 2013 at 2:00 AM

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Not that anybody asked, but here's my take on the NHIAA's pilot realignment plan for high school football in 2013:

I don't like it. But I am looking forward to it.

The Football Committee knew it wasn't going to please everybody when it unveiled its three-division plan a little over a year ago. And guess what: It hasn't.

We're less than three weeks away from season openers in New Hampshire, where the state's six-division format has been crunched into three. It's a drastic change, a one-year experiment that came about once the NHIAA recognized — correctly — that crowning six state champions when only 57 schools field teams is absurd.

Reception has been mixed, with nearly every program weighing in since training camps officially opened Wednesday. One thing everyone agrees upon: It's a big, big change.

Here's four problems I have, one for each division that should be set up for 2014:

The enrollment disparity. Even back when his Londonderry teams were annually contending for Division I championships in the 1990s, former head coach Tom Sawyer used to bristle at references to a "level playing field," when his school was spotting behemoths like Nashua and Pinkerton Academy a couple thousand students.

It's just as much of a problem now. A school like Pinkerton, at more than 3,100 students, has a significantly larger player pool to draw from than Winnacunnet or Dover, which check in around 1,200 and 1,400, respectively. By this analysis, a four-division setup makes much more sense than three.

Unbalanced schedules in Division II. New Portsmouth coach Brian Pafford brings up an interesting scenario, which is probably on the NHIAA's short list of potential nightmares:

The Clippers' five-team conference, which also features St. Thomas, Pembroke, Merrimack Valley and Kingswood, isn't exactly a group of death. That's one reason the school requested — and received — an out-of-conference slate of heavy hitters, like past Division IV powers Plymouth and Trinity, old friend Souhegan, and decent Laconia and Hanover teams.

What happens if PHS takes care of its conference foes, but finishes out of the top two because it loses too many of its other games, while other teams in its conference are playing softer schedules? Not exactly something dominating the discussion as the Clippers prepare for Trinity on Sept. 6, but it's out there.

"The only thing we said to them," said Pafford this week, "is our first game is not going to be easy."

Emphasis on geography. Sure, we all grumble about trips to Keene (be sure to check out colleague Ryan O'Leary's Twitter comments on Sept. 14), but the fact is, New Hampshire's not a large state.

In some cases, it makes sense to put teams in the same five-team conferences to continue annual rivalries: Pinkerton vs. Londonderry, Exeter vs. Winnacunnet, Hanover vs. Lebanon. No beef with those.

But in New Hampshire, the best rivalries are the ones that happen because teams keep meeting in the postseason, when everyone's paying attention: Plymouth vs. Souhegan. Portsmouth vs. Souhegan. Exeter vs. Pinkerton. Winnacunnet vs. Bishop Guertin.

"The way the school looks at it, the cost of travel is going to be lower," pointed out Cumba.

But not by much. Consider:

Portsmouth's road games last year were at Souhegan (58 miles), Con-Val (82 miles), Merrimack Valley (56 miles) and Milford (63 miles). Its road games this year are at Souhegan (58 miles), Kingswood (50 miles), Plymouth (90 miles) and Pembroke (50 miles).

Eleven fewer miles of travel total this year. Athletic director Rus Wilson is surely already counting the ways to invest the savings.

Redundant "conference championship" games in Division I. This is where the Football Committee missed a great opportunity. With balanced schedules within each conference — unlike in Division II, each team in a conference plays the same five non-conference opponents — there's no need the keep the first round of the playoffs "in-house."

Upon unveiling the plan last year, NHIAA head Patrick Corbin referred to these games as "sectional championships." That means what, exactly? If Exeter wins its "sectional" but falls in the state playoffs, it can beat its chest anywhere from Plaistow to Rochester, but doesn't dare crow west of Route 125?

Again, we're not that big a state.

It would be more exciting to advance the top two teams in each conference and then seed 1 through 8, the way it's done in the NHL and NBA. That would create more games between teams that aren't that familiar and reward teams for great regular seasons with home field and more favorable match-ups.

Once the season starts, this becomes an issue for fans and columnists, with coaches and players focusing their attention on the next games. And winning a state title, or even reaching a championship game, in a 20-team league is certainly more of an achievement. November should be incredibly exciting.